Advisory Committee

Advisory Committee Members

Patrick “Pat” Antkowiak, BS ’82
Retired Corporate Vice President & Chief Strategy and Technology Officer
Northrop Grumman

Pat Antkowiak retired as the corporate vice president and chief technology officer for Northrop Grumman Corporation, a leader in global security. Antkowiak was responsible for developing and executing corporate technology strategy, setting technology plans, and serving as primary interface with technology leaders in the customer community, with industry and university research partners. Prior to this position, Antkowiak served as the vice president and general manager of the Advanced Concepts and Technologies Division in the Electronic Systems sector.

Antkowiak received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Science in computer engineering from the University of Maryland. He has also completed the General Manager’s Program at Harvard University.

Alyssa Apsel, PhD ’03
Director, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Cornell University

Alyssa Apsel received a B.S. from Swarthmore College in 1995 and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2003. She joined Cornell University in 2002, where she is currently Director of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She was a Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London from 2016-2018. Her current research is on the leading edge of ultra-low power and flexible RF interfaces for IoT. She has authored or coauthored over 100 refereed publications including one book in related fields of RF mixed signal circuit design, ultra-low power radio, interconnect design and planning, photonic integration, and process invariant circuit design techniques resulting in ten patents. In 2016, Dr. Apsel co-founded AlphaWave IP Corporation, a multi-national Silicon IP provider focused on multi-standard analog Silicon IP solutions for the world of IOT. As Chief Technology Officer of AlphaWave, Dr. Apsel led the company’s global research capability with offices in Silicon Valley, Toronto, and London.

Shekar Ayyar, MS ’89, PhD ’92
Chairman & CEO
Arrcus

Chance Glenn, PhD ’95, MS ’03
Provost and Vice President, Academic Affairs
University of Houston-Victoria

Chance Glenn received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. He then received his Master’s of Science degree and Doctor of Philosophy degree, both in Electrical Engineering, from Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering. He began his engineering career at the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland where he designed microwave and radio frequency devices for a wide range of defense-related applications. In 2003, Dr. Glenn joined the faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was a tenured professor in the College of Applied Science and Technology. In 2008, he became the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies.

In August of 2012, Dr. Glenn became the Dean of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Physical Sciences at the Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama. Dr. Glenn is currently the Provost and Vice President, Academic Affairs. He is leading the college through its expansion to prepare students and researchers to meet the global needs of the 21^st century.

Conrad J. Grant, MS ’82, ’84
APL Chief Engineer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL)

Conrad J. Grant is the Chief Engineer for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the nation’s largest University Affiliated Research Center, performing research and development on behalf of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other federal agencies. He previously served for over a decade as the Head of the APL Air and Missile Defense Sector where he led 1200 staff developing advanced air and missile defense systems for the U.S. Navy and the Missile Defense Agency.

Mr. Grant has extensive experience in the application of systems engineering to the design, development, test and evaluation, and fielding of complex systems involving multi-sensor integration, command and control, human-machine interfaces, and guidance and control systems. Mr. Grant’s engineering leadership in APL prototype systems for the Navy is now evidenced by capabilities on board over 100 cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy and its Allies.

Mr. Grant earned a Master of Science in Applied Physics and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering.

 

 

Lawrence “Larry” Kenney, BS ’78
Senior Tech Fellow
Collins Aerospace

Larry Kenney is a Senior Tech Fellow of Collins Aerospace, and a Senior Engineering Fellow with Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS). He is the Technical Director for the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) product area that provides IFF solutions to US and international customers. Larry provides leadership for technology development and program execution, while contributing to strategic planning and business capture for IFF systems.

Mr. Kenney has a bachelor’s degree and a post-master’s advanced certificate in Electrical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University with concentration in Communications.

Adrian Le Pera, MS ’97
Lead Data Engineer
Meta

Adrian Le Pera is a technology leader currently serving as Lead Data Engineer and Machine Learning (ML) domain expert at Meta Platforms Inc. He designs data products and leads initiatives driving innovation in Big Data, AI infrastructure, ML model performance, algorithmic fairness, and compliance. He has driven significant cross-functional programs advancing ML adoption and establishing best practices within the organization through technical summits and mentorship.

Before Meta, Mr. Le Pera held global leadership roles at Nielsen, defining mobile measurement strategies and launching new market research data products across the globe. He also co-founded an online media startup, for which he was selected as an Endeavor entrepreneur, serving as CTO before its acquisition. His foundational experience was at Alcatel-Lucent, managing large-scale global teams and directing major wireless technology deployments.

Mr. Le Pera earned a Master of Science in Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering and a BA in Physics from Franklin & Marshall College.

Eric Naviasky, BS ’78
Senior Architect
Blue Cheetah Analog Design

Eric Naviasky’s (very) early engineering experience included illicit telecommunications equipment design and licensed commercial RF communication maintenance. After an education at Johns Hopkins(‘78) supported by designing biomedical research devices, he joined Westinghouse ESG where he rose to Fellow developing circuits and semiconductor processes for defense applications. In 1996 he lead the creation of the analog mixed-signal design service organization for Cadence Design Systems, rising to CTO of the Tality division. After shifting back to a technical role in Cadence, he served as a Fellow for numerous years. In 2020 he joined Blue Cheetah Analog Design to focus on die-to-die communication. As of 2024, he is focused on the development of various widgets on his own. Over the years he has served on numerous IEEE conference committees, published numerous papers, and been awarded dozens of patents. His interests (still) include biomedical devices, robotics, and RF circuits.

Alan Willner, PhD
Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professorial Chair and Distinguished Professor
University of Southern California

Prof. Alan Willner received his B.A. and Honorary Doctorate from Yeshiva University and his PhD from Columbia University, has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professorial Chair and Distinguished Professor at the Univ. of Southern California. His honors include: Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering; International Fellow of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering; Thomas Egleston Medal from Columbia Engineering Alumni Association; IEEE Eric Sumner Technical Field Award; NSF Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House; Guggenheim, Packard, Vannevar Bush, and Fulbright Foundation Fellowships; IET JJ Thompson Medal; OSA Forman Engineering Excellence Award; IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award; IEEE Globecom Best Paper Award; Eddy Best Technical Paper Award; Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors; SPIE President’s Award, and Edwin Armstrong Foundation Memorial Award for an EE Masters student at Columbia University. Prof. Willner has served as Co-Chair of the U.S. National Academies Study on Optics & Photonics; President of the Optical Society; President of the IEEE Photonics Society; Member of the U.S. Army Science Board; Editor-in-Chief of OSA Optics Letters, IEEE/OSA J. of Lightwave Technology, and IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. He is a Fellow of AAAS, IEEE, IET, OSA and SPIE.

Edward Zyszkowski, BA ’84
Chairman
3X3 Capital LLC.

Edward Zyszkowski serves as the Chairman of 3×3 Capital LLC, Chairman of edzLabs LLC and is the Co-founder of Personal Digital Spaces LLC, a digital asset application development platform.

Zyszkowski previously co-founded Skyview Ventures and served as Chief Technology officer at Syncplicity, Digital Fuel, NewNet Communications Technologies and Skyview Capital LLC where he was a member of the investment committee and oversaw technology strategy, diligence and oversight for Skyview Capital investments and its portfolio companies. He has served as a founder, CEO, CTO, investor and corporate advisor to create billions of dollars of value through industry-transforming technologies. He started his career at the Research Institute for Advanced Studies (Martin Marietta) as a principle investigator, building robotics systems for the Space Shuttle. He later invented foundational “data mining” technologies and developed parallel text search systems for Dow Jones and Microsoft while at Thinking Machines Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Zyszkowski later founded and led Torrent Systems to develop Orchestrate, a parallel processing big data environment, later sold to IBM that forms the basis for their Information Server product. He has also assembled, inspired and led high performing teams to create technology companies that he sold to Boeing, Yahoo! and Google. Zyszkowski holds numerous technology patents and continues to explore the next wave of transformational technology, including the explosion of big data, machine learning and distributed ledger systems. Zyszkowski is a member of the Editorial Board of IEEE Spectrum. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biophysics at the Johns Hopkins University, postgraduate studies at MIT and an eMBA at Babson College.